Ticket-box for railroad-cars



. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID A. HOPKINS, OF ELMIRA, NEW YORK.

TIcKET-Box FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,804, dated April 18, 1854.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, DAVID A. HOPKINS, of Elmira, in the county of Chemung and State of New York, have invented an Improved Ticket-Box for the Reception of Original Tickets for the Purpose of Preventing Fraud Upon Railroad Companies by Conductors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which" Figure 1 is a front view of the ticket box. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same, the plane of section being indicated by the line X, X, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of an original ticket, showing the aperture at its lower end.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to an improved ticket box for the reception of original tickets, 'the box being so arranged that the tickets cannot be abstracted therefrom.

A ticket box is provided for every car seat, and the original tickets, which stand in account against the conductors, are taken from the boxes by agents at the ends of the line, the agents being provided with keys.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents a rectangular box, which is divided vertically into two equal parts, by a partition, (a). At the front of the box, there is a frame, B, which slides or works in grooves, (b), in the sides of the box. This frame contains a glass, C, by which the interior of the box is exposed to view. The frame, B, is provided with a lock at its lower end, the key-hole of which is seen in Fig. 1.

At the back of the upper part of the frame, B, there are plates, (c), (c), which are secured to the frame, in such a way as to leave spaces between the glass and the plates. These spaces are not closed at their upper ends, and the tickets, (d), are placed in these spaces, as shown by the red line in Fig. 2. In Fig. 1, a face view of a ticket is shown in one of the spaces. The tickets are held in these spaces by springs, (e), one spring being at the back of each plate, (c). The lower ends of the springs are bent, or somewhat inclined toward the tickets, see (f), Fig.v 2, and these ends, (f), pass through holes or apertures, (g), at the lower parts of the tickets, see Fig. 1. The hole or aperture is clearly shown in Fig. 3. Just below the plates, (c), (c) and attached to a cross-piece, (it), of the frame, B, are springs, the lower ends of which incline toward the back of the box, as shown in Fig. 2. The oflice of these springs will be hereafter shown.

Each passenger is to be provided with two tickets-an original and duplicate. Upon taking a seat, the occupantplaces his original ticket in the space between the back plate, (e), and the glass, C, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and gives the duplicate ticket to the conductor previously to leaving the train. The original ticket cannot be removed by the conductor, as the frame, B, is locked. The original tickets are removed from the boxes by agents at the ends of the line.

There is a box for each car seat, and it is the duty of the conductor to supply the passengers with original and duplicate tickets, if there be any who had not previously obtained them. If a passenger leaves the car at a way station, and another enters and occupies the seat that the former passenger left, the passenger that last entered, places his original ticket in the space of the box; and, as his ticket is pressed downward, it forces downward the ticket of the previous occupant of the seat, the part, (f), of the spring, (e), being forced out of the hole, (g), by the downward pressure of the ticket. As this last ticket passes out of the space, the spring, (i), forces it against the back of the box. Thus it will be seen, that the spaces, (c), (c), at the upper part of the frame, B, contain the original tickets of the passengers that are occupying the seat opposite the box, while the lower portion of the box contains the original tickets of previous occupants of t-he seat.

By means of the box above described, frauds cannot be perpetrated upon a rail road company by the conductors, for the original tickets in the boxes stand in account against him; and, as the original tickets in the spaces of the box are exposed to the full view of the passengers, the absence of a ticket in a space, while a passenger is 0ccupying the seat opposite to it, would,'at once, indicate fraud or negligence on the part of the conductor.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The box, A, constructed as herein shown and described, vim-said box having a slidlower part of the box, when pressed down ing frame, B, in front, provided With aglass, from the spaces, by means Vof the springs, 10 C, and having spzltceshor 1cha1nber)'s at) its as herein set forth. upper part formed t e p ates, c c at 5 the back of the fraigie, B, for threeption DAVID A HOPKINS' of the tickets, the tickets being retained in Witnesses: said spaces or chambers, by means of the S. H. WALES, springs, (e), and forced at the back of the JNO. W. HAMILTON. 

